Staff and Board

Chelsea Harnish joined VAEEC as Executive Director in October 2015. Chelsea’s resume includes nearly a decade of campaign planning and energy policy experience in the nonprofit sector. For the last seven years, she has regularly engaged with state agency staff, as well as, industry and utility representatives to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in Virginia.

Jessica Greene joined VAEEC as Program Coordinator in September 2016. Jessica has diverse experience in the environmental field, including the areas of campaign planning, consulting, education, energy policy, organizing, and research. During the last couple of years she has devoted her time to campaigns and strategies focused on implementing clean, renewable energy at both the … Read More

Rebecca Hui joined VAEEC as Administrative Assistant in October 2018. Rebecca has a varied professional background, with experience in agriculture, customer service, and communications. She is excited to enter the non-profit arena and promote energy efficiency.

Ciara Reed joined VAEEC as the Fall Communications Intern in August of this year. Ciara is a student at Virginia Commonwealth University majoring in Creative and Strategic Advertising and a minor in Psychology, projected to graduate next December. With a passion for graphic designing and copywriting, she manages all creative content including emails, news-letters, blogs, … Read More

Cynthia Adams is CEO and Co-Founder of Pearl Certification, a Virginia-based company whose national High-Performing Home Certification verifies and documents investment grade data on energy efficient and renewable energy home features. Pearl works in partnership with the Appraisal Institute, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), and ENERGY STAR to help homeowners recoup the value of their performance upgrades at resale. Cynthia also serves on Virginia Energy Council and on NAR’s Sustainability Advisory Group. She is the 2018 recipient of the Home Performance Council’s Leadership Award and is past Chair and Co-Founder of the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council.

George is a member of the Solutions team that develops energy-based projects for the Trane Virginia District serving Virginia, West Virginia, and Eastern Tennessee. He has been in the Energy Business for over 27 years. George will be working closely with Higher Ed, Local Government, Water and Waste Water Treatment, healthcare, and K-12. He is determined … Read More

Mr. Greenleaf is a commercial loan officer at Virginia Community Capital, a Community Development Financial Institution. He has over 25 years in real estate lending, business management, and nonprofit leadership. His lending background includes commercial and affordable multifamily properties and managing and disposing of nonperforming real estate loans. As a lender, he worked for GMAC Model Home Finance and Dynex Commercial, a commercial mortgage REIT. Before joining VCC he served as the Executive Director of the Richmond Region Energy Alliance, an energy efficiency nonprofit focused on breaking down barriers to advance energy efficiency and solar energy in central Virginia.

Wesley Holmes is the Director of Strategy and Development for the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. In this role, Wesley leads SEEA’s efforts to identify and assess new business opportunities, supports program design to meet new business goals, and leads the development of grant proposals. Wesley is also leading SEEA’s efforts to expand access to capital … Read More

Michael is the Manager of Energy Conservation at Dominion Energy. His responsibilities include oversight and design of new DSM programs. He joined Dominion in 1996 and has served in a number of regulatory and customer service-related leadership roles. Michael joined the VAEEC Board in May 2018.

Mark Jackson joined Community Housing Partners (CHP) in 2009 after 20 years in business management and real estate development, where he gained experience in operations, project management, fiscal oversight, and customer service. As Vice President of CHP Energy Solutions he oversees all operations of the internationally-renowned Weatherization Assistance Program, Research and Training Center and Utility … Read More

David Koogler is the Vice President of Customer Services for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the third largest electric utility in Virginia and one of the largest electric cooperatives in the United States. He is responsible for the strategic leadership of all member support activities at REC, including contact center, billing and collections, key accounts and economic development, regulatory and government affairs, conservation and renewable energy programs, and communications. Mr. Koogler joined REC in March 2011.

Susan is currently Director of Business Policy at Columbia Gas of Virginia, a position she accepted in May 2015. She is responsible for government and regulatory affairs and energy efficiency programs and leads the development and implementation of policy initiatives. Prior to this position, Susan was Director of the Division of Accounting and Finance at … Read More

John Morrill is Energy Manager for Arlington County, Virginia, a position he has held since 2000. He leads a broad portfolio of work in energy management and energy policy including energy efficiency and clean energy deployment for County facilities, and he is heavily involved in energy program development for the community. John also leads ESF 12, the emergency support function for energy in Arlington.

As Facilities Engineer with the City of Virginia Beach Department of Public Works, Thomas Nicholas oversees the Facilities Design and Construction Division, Building Maintenance Division, Facilities Management Office and Energy Management Office. He serves as the focal point for all municipal building planning, design, construction, maintenance, facilities management and energy programs. A retired Naval officer, … Read More

David Steiner is President of D+R International, Ltd., which has been instrumental in the support of innovative program design for energy efficiency adoption over its 30-year history. The company focuses on high quality data that brings greater understanding of energy efficiency opportunities and ultimately capture of energy savings. It has pioneered the Market Lift® program that has succeeded in pushing the market to higher efficient products.